


never wanted anything from you (except everything you had and what was left after that too)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: my tiny ass fandom fest [10]
Category: The Selection Series - Kiera Cass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Women, Black Celeste, Celeste is most definitely a Slytherin, Cinderella References, Deconstruction of Celeste's characterization, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Feminist Themes, Fix-It, Happy Ending, Kissing, Lesbian Celeste, Lesbian Character, Male-Female Friendship, POV Celeste, Poc Celeste, Spitefic, Women Being Awesome, and she's fucking amazing, how about not slut-shaming/villainizing a woman's drive for power
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 01:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18906985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: As Celeste grows up, her mother tells her fairytales. Instead of telling tales about Gregory Illea, she tells tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and, of course, Cinderella. Cinderella who was a slave to her family for years and let her family hurt her and only ended up at the ball because of her fairy godmother.At a young age, probably about six, Celeste decides something that she thinks really should be self-evident: Cinderella was an idiot.Cinderella didn't have to stay in that house, after all. When her stepsisters and stepmother tore her down, she should have left. If she wanted to go to the ball so badly, she should have. Damn her stepmother. Cinderella shouldn't have let everyone walk all over her.-It's the second day of the Selection that Celeste realizes that she's just as much of an idiot as Cinderella was. She's here for the hand of the prince- she shouldn't be falling for one of her fellow Select, even if the girl in question has bright hazel eyes and brighter red hair and a temper and attitude to match-Well, fuck.





	never wanted anything from you (except everything you had and what was left after that too)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + the Machine.
> 
> So like I always loved the premise of this book series but hated the combination slut-shaming and villanization of any woman who dared to actually want Prince Maxon. There was a lot of hypocrisy and girl-against-girl hate from America's POV that always sat kind of wrong with me. Also, the conflicting characterization of the almost-sociopath-like Celeste of the first two books (glass in another girl's shoes, ripping dresses, putting bleach into shampoos, physically fighting America, tricking Anna into slapping her) and the sympathetic characterization of her in the last book really didn't seem to flow well. So this is the version of Celeste-the-anti-hero that I wanted to see, without some of the nastier, sociopathic bits (no glass in the shoes, no bleach in the shampoo). She's a bitch, but she has her limits.
> 
> Also, everyone's a bit gayer. Because if you have 35 girls in this competition, odds are at least some of them are queer. Bi, lesbian, pan, whatever.
> 
> Works in the fandom at the time of writing: 105

_Girl, bite. Girl, devour._

_Girl, show them your claws._

_Show them your wings._

_Rise._

_Take over the city. Own the mountains._

_Bite the hand and the one behind their back with all the good stuff._

_Girl, show your teeth._

_Never forget what you can do with them._

― Caitlyn Siehl 

 

As Celeste grows up, her mother tells her fairytales. A former Five who made such success as an actress that she caught the eye of an officer Two named Fabian, Jara knows all of the old fairytales that the upper castes don’t really tell anymore. Instead of telling tales about Gregory Illea and the numerous Kings and Queens that came after him, she tells tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and, of course, Cinderella. Cinderella who was a slave to her family for years and let her family hurt her and only ended up at the ball because of her fairy godmother.

At a young age, probably about six, Celeste decides something that she thinks really should be self-evident: Cinderella was an idiot.

Cinderella didn't have to stay in that house, after all. When her stepsisters and stepmother tore her down, she should have left. If she wanted to go to the ball so badly, she should have. Damn her stepmother. Cinderella shouldn't have let everyone walk all over her.

Celeste takes the very first modelling audition she can, at age seven, and she gets it. She's determined to be more, to get all the power Cinderella never had. She isn't going to wait around, like some simple Cinderella. She’s going to find a way to get that dance and that Prince all on her own.  
  
-

It's the second day of the Selection that Celeste realizes that she's just as much of an idiot as Cinderella was. She's here for the hand of the prince- she shouldn't be falling for one of her fellow Select, even if the girl in question has bright hazel eyes and brighter red hair and a temper and attitude to match-

Well, fuck.

America plays that violin, fingers racing down the strings in an intricate, unknowable dance, and Celeste realizes why her father married a Five. She understands why Fabian Newsome saw Jara Gregor and fell head over heels in love.

America has no right to be this bewitching, to be able play and create a spell like the fairy godmother did in the tales. She doesn't get to turn Celeste into a lovesick lady who is losing sight of her goals.

But as the weeks and months pass, as the numbers get whittled down and despite the fact that Celeste knows she's been putting in less of an effort and that a number of the Select don't like her, she still stays. Whether by grace of god or by the Prince, she stays. All Celeste knows is that she's slowly caring less and less about Maxon and more about her fellow Select, the girl from Carolina with the magic fingers.

So Celeste makes it to the Elite, without much of an idea as to how she made it past the Top Ten, with a bit of a massive crush on America and a definite vulnerability that she doesn't know how to get rid of.

-

Then there's a ball, because there's always a ball, because this is a story about a prince and his future princess and there has to be a ball involved.

And unlike with the German and Italian receptions, where Celeste had been trying at least a little to impress Maxon, Celeste finds herself planning for this Ball with slightly different dreams in mind.

Celeste Newsome is not an idiot. She knows politics, knows the reasons she originally joined the Selection. To be a One would be everything. It’s all she ever wanted growing up, the ultimate end goal that would give her the power girls like Cinderella got handed to them in the last act.

But she knows that she has never been Cinderella. She was never a Seven who wanted to escape her life but never acted on her desires. She was never an idiot who pined after the Prince for any sort of sentimental reason.

At a young age, Celeste learned how to use her assets, how to apply blush and foundation to dark skin and learned how to work her coily dark hair she’d gotten from her mother and accentuate the sloped nose and curved lips she got from her father. She learned how to make her face into something worth staring at on the covers of magazines, how to make strangers love her.

Celeste is a pretty face, she knows that, but she has turned that pretty face into something more. She has made herself a recognizable household name outside of just being the daughter of an officer and an actress.

She knows that she’s been a bitch. She knows that she has never been reluctant to be callous and abrasive. She has been unafraid of push back.

She’s never wanted to be a pushover. She’s always wanted to be able to be the most powerful one in the room, the girl that no one could ever walk over.

Celeste Newsome is the kind of girl that you take or leave, and she's never much cared which people choose to do. She’s only ever wanted to gain all the power she can, to be the hero rather than the love interest scooped up in the last act. She’s wanted to make her talents and her pretty face into what gave her the power to overcome anything, to give her the ultimate status as a One.

And then came America. America, who is stupidly beautiful and talented and argues back and smiles in a sharp sort of way, a way that disguises past heartbreak, and damn, Celeste has never been so willing to give up a goal before. She’s never been so willing to cave, if only to get the chance to kiss those outspoken lips.

Celeste knows that the Prince's favorite color is blue. She knows that red would show off her more womanly assets.

And she knows that her own favorite color is purple.

Celeste gets dressed for her first ball for the Elite and she doesn’t wear blue. She doesn’t wear red. She requests her maids make her a dress of flowing purple, one that cascades outward until it gently graces the floor. She still wears her jewels. She still does her own makeup just as she always has, applying color and eyeliner and paints _just right_. She has her maids assist her with her braids, twisting them into a gorgeous updo.

Celeste knows how to flatter her own appearance perfectly- she always has. Tonight she is regal; tonight, she is a Queen in all but name.

But for tonight, for this Ball, she isn’t doing this for a prince. She isn’t doing this for power or money or a Caste shift.

She has plenty of power and money. Gaining one more caste won’t do much for her, not if she’s not happy. Not if she spends the rest of her life in a sexless, loveless, mediocre marriage with a man she barely knows better than Cinderella knew her prince when they were wed.

Celeste wants to fall in love. She wants to wake up with a smile on her face, knowing that someone is sleeping by her side who loves her. She wants sex that she enjoys, with another woman, not sex she just will close her eyes and pretend she enjoys.

Celeste wants a happy ending. It won’t involve a prince, but whatever it is, she knows she’ll have built it for herself.

Celeste is not Cinderella. She’s never been.

-

It only takes a few dances into the ball to get what she wants: a dance with the prettiest girl here- America Singer, with her hair pulled back into a firey red bun, dressed in a gown of dark green that only serves to make her look more breathtakingly gorgeous.

America is the one who comes up to Celeste, slotting a hand into hers after Celeste finishes dancing with Kriss. "Want to dance with me, Celeste?" America says, her gorgeous lips curving into an inviting smile, and Celeste smiles back a sharp smile.

"Of course," Celeste says, taking America's other hand, and they spin off.

(Celeste never dances with Maxon, but she's more than okay with that. When she gets to dance with America for the next couple of hours, the Prince is far from her mind.)

-

That night, America ends up in Celeste's room. That night, they make out for hours, giggling and talking and kissing. They cast away giant skirts and large dresses, unzip each other down to leggings and undershirts and trace kisses down each other's throats and collarbones, worshiping each other's curves and skin.

“Why’d you pick me?” Celeste asks as they lie in bed facing each other, America’s fingers playing with one of Celeste’s braids. Celeste knows that she hasn’t been the most pleasant person to be around. She’s been harsh-worded and she's been callous and she's been unafraid in her pursuit of power.

“Because you’re honest,” America says, “You’re gorgeous and talented and I know you’re afraid of being soft, but that’s okay. I know that you’re vulnerable somewhere down in there, and that it’ll take awhile to get all the way there, but that in the meantime I like you and all your harsh edges.”

Celeste blinks at America. “Well, shit.”

America laughs, but it’s not out of malice. “You taught me that honesty can be used for good as well as evil.”

“I’m not evil,” Celeste immediately defends herself, though she has the feeling that the strength of her tone is belied by the fond smile on her face.

"Of course you're not," America says with a wide, fond smile, then leans back in and kisses her again.

And Celeste is all too willing to go back to making out.

-

When both her and America politely, privately suggest that Maxon turn them from the Selection, he smiles and tells him that he has fallen in love with quiet, studious Elise, who has a secret fondness for horror movies and jazz music, who has spent weeks talking to him about foreign affairs and teaching him how to speak Chinese. She'll make a perfect Queen, Celeste knows.

Maxon accepts their request easily, despite the warnings Celeste and America got from the staff of the Selection, but he does ask America to stay until the Final Two, as his friend and for her family. He says that when the selection is over, he wants to make her one of his highest advisors, to help him with reaching out to the lower castes and revising the caste system to provide more for the lower castes and level out some levels of income inequality. He does warn America that they won't be able to do as much as Maxon wants until he's King, but that once he has the power he and her will make all the changes they can.

America holds Celeste's hand in hers, smiles, and says yes.

-

Celeste packs her bags for the ride home, but she’s not alone in her room. America is there, humming and singing and laughing and talking to her, and Celeste is already half-way in love with this woman. She's giving up power to be with America, but she doesn't much care.

(Celeste doesn't need a kingdom. She already has a modelling empire of her own and she still has at least nine years in which she can continue scooping up modelling opportunities. Being an Elite will probably add a few years onto that. She has built her own empire- she doesn't need a Prince. She has enough power on her own.)

The whole process ends up taking twice as long as it should as she keeps getting delayed when she and America stop to trade kisses as they go, often getting far too distracted by each other's lips. Celeste isn't that upset, though- this is much more fun than stressing over the Selection.  
  
"You know," America admits at one point, "I've had a crush on you for awhile now. It took awhile to admit it to myself, but I ended up telling Maxon about it."

Celeste smirks as she packs up some of her makeup. "And what'd he say?"

America grins. "I told him that you were really great, and he said he wanted to keep you until I finally screwed up the courage to ask you out. He was then the one who suggested I ask you out."

Celeste smiles, and it's not her usual sharp smile, but something a bit fonder. A bit softer. "Then I'll have to send him a thank you card."

"Whenever we get the wedding invitations you can write a thank you on the RSVP," America says, leaning in an giving Celeste a peck on the cheek as she walks across the room to the closet.

"We're going to be the most beautiful people there," Celeste says, "Save  _maybe_ the bride and groom, but even then..."

"Elise will make a great Queen," America says, "She'll look perfect in a crown. Much better than certain Kings ever could be."

Celeste has heard a number of these small comments from America over the past couple of days, small digs against the King. Maxon is America's best friend, and she's his- Celeste is sure that America has learned a number of things about the Schreaves that no one else knows.

"Yes, she will," Celeste says, making a note to someday ask America about what she's implying. Right now, it's not too important, not with Celeste's readjusted goals, but someday, she will ask. "Maybe she'll even teach Maxon how to  _actually_ speak Chinese."

America laughs as she slides another gown onto a hanger. Celeste is pleased to note that America is taking care to not crinkle the fabric too much. "His accent is fucking atrocious. I love him, don't get me wrong, but I'm so glad he found Elise, who is willing to be patient and teach him how to speak Chinese properly."

"It's not like you can speak a foreign language either," Celeste says as she tucks the last of her lipsticks into their bag.

America arches a proud eyebrow. "But I can play a violin, and music is a language that takes plenty of talent to learn."

Celeste glances over at America's talented, long fingers, and she can't help but nod. "You've got that right," she concedes, and America offers her a smug curve of a smile.

"You know it," America says, and Celeste just has to set her bag down to head over and give America a kiss.

-

When Celeste finally finishes packing up and gathering her luggage to her side by the doorway, America leans in to give her a kiss. "See you back here in a couple of weeks for the announcement," America says with a knowing smile, and Celeste smirks. 

"Couldn't keep me away."

"I couldn't try," America says, smile fond, and Celeste pulls her back into a kiss. For a few final minutes, Celeste and America kiss behind her closed door. As soon as the Selection is over, they can go public with their relationship, but for now (in order to skirt those nasty Selection laws), they have to remain here.

Soon enough, though, they'll have the power to be together. And Celeste can't wait.

She went to the Palace and she didn't get her Prince. Instead, she fell in love with a girl with magical fingers and ended up giving the possibility of becoming a One. She'd given up ultimate power and a position next to the most powerful man in the country.

But Celeste Newsome ended up leaving the Selection on her own terms, having fallen sincerely in love along the way, and how could you gain more power than that?

 

_When the army doesn’t come for you, when no one chooses to fight for you,_

_when no one dives in after you with fairy tales and promises,_

_you write a different story._

_You write a tale of adventure and chaos, of survival and fortitude,_

_and instead of wishing to be saved,_

_you save yourself._

**-Kelton Wright**


End file.
